At this year’s General Assembly, the United Nations must call for sustainable and equitable world economies as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expire in 2015. The scandal of hunger must come to an end, with food security at all times.

Caritas Europa encourages all European representatives at the UN General Assembly to commit to a clear roadmap to approve the Post-2015 framework, and launch a single, unified process where there is a strong commitment to end the scandal of hunger and achieve constant and universal Right and Access to Sustainable Food – an existing mechanism to encompass food security for all. We believe that nothing less than the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition is what we should be striving for by agreeing on a Zero Hunger Goal.

Extreme poverty can only be eradicated if inequality in income and opportunity are reduced and universal human rights are protected. Absolute priority should be accorded to outcomes that exert positive and sustainable impact on the lives of the poorest and most marginalized members of society, such as by ensuring empowerment of women and girls. In this perspective the Post-2015 framework should strive to re-orient the current economic framework to become equitable and inclusive for the poor with a paradigm shift towards sustainable development.

For Caritas Europa, the human person must be at the centre of all development. Political and economic activities, whether national or international, must focus on people and promote and guarantee their responsible exercise in solidarity, with particular attention to the poorest.

Thus, the Post-2015 agenda should be based on the spirit of Article 2 of the UN Declaration on the right to development: “The human person is the central subject of development and should be the active participant and beneficiary of the right to development.” Moreover, it should include “built-in” accountability mechanisms designed to monitor and evaluate the implementation of commitments made by governments.

For the Post-2015 Development Framework, Caritas Europa calls on the UN GA to:

•  End the scandal of hunger and realise food security at all times.
•  Strive for integral human development and international solidarity;
•  Promote full realisation of universal human rights by reducing inequality and by increasing access to basic entitlements and quality of life;
•  Ensure, through equitable and sustainable economies, participation in the economy on fair terms by poor women and men;
•  Facilitate social and economic progress within safe planetary limits in order to benefit both present and future generations;
•  Guarantee participation and empowerment of people in poverty (especially women and girls) as central pillars in both planning and implementation of an ambitious Post-2015 development framework, in recognition of their rights.

Press contact
Thorfinnur Omarsson, tomarsson@caritas-europa.org, tel: +32 (0)4 73341393